Weak economies and energy efficiency measures result in the predictable Econ 101 result. The graph is from Business Week. It also puts heavy pressure on the urban myth that we are running out of oil. New techniques of recovery and new discoveries in North America and around the globe will provide plenty of time and fuel for a reasonable least cost transition to alternative fuels for the future. There is now more oil production in the U.S. than 1990, according to the latest U.S. DOE oil inventories report.